Chapter Text
After the altercation, Violet left him in the elevator shaft, going to the next floor to look out, a small trail of blood in front of her.
“Follow the blood.”
She sighed, following it out into a long, blocked off hallway.
A flashlight shone, shutting off. She raced towards it, seeing the man from before; Father Martin.
“Thank God you’re alive. I thought that secular maniac would carve you like the rest,” he said to her.
She held up her hand missing a finger.
“Good lord,” he replied.
“Does that look okay to you?” She yelled in response.
“Well, no, but I had no idea,” he replied, slightly taken aback by her outburst.
“I came in here to find one–ONE–person. Please, please, just tell me how to get to the base floor of this place,” she said, pleading with her hands together for emphasis.
He looked around behind him, then back at her.
“In time, child. Meet me outside, you are so much closer now,” he said, and ran away.
“Hey! Hey, wait! Come back here! Closer to what?” She yelled, banging on the glass.
She sighed, but begrudgingly followed his directions.
Through long winding corridors and hallways, rooms that led to nowhere, was a window pane up high, bloody footprints leading to it. Jumping through, there was fire everywhere, burning just about everything in the room. And through it all, was one man, sitting on a bench amongst the flames.
Violet stood in front of him, where he was sitting, hands in his lap.
“I had to burn it all,” he said, looking up at her. “Murkoff took so much from us. This place …took so much from us. I just had to.”
Violet listened to him, taking in his appearance.
One side of his face was burned, scarred heavily.
“I’m sorry,” Violet said back. “I’m sorry this happened to you, and to everyone here.”
He shook his head.
“No, don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” he replied. “This is just what happens now. It all goes up in flames.”
She nodded as she listened, looking amongst the fire.
“Get out while you still can,” he finally said.
She walked away, continuing her journey.
Getting through the courtyard was a pain in the ass. Rain, storming, thunder, lightning lighting up the place for an instant, making the whole area look like a haunted location.
Hell, it might as well be haunted, with how it was an asylum and everything. It just had to be abandoned to be considered so.
Violet brought out her flashlight in the pouring rain, looking around as she made her way through it all in the pouring rain. She was completely soaked through, all her clothes, her shoes, everything. She walked on a brick path as she waved her flashlight around, lightning making the shadows of the trees and scenery dance.
The wind whistled, almost like a whisper in her ears.
“Violet…”
She heard it again, sending a shiver down her spine. She looked around, pointing her flashlight around.
The whispers continued, until it felt like her head was pounding. She pushed through, catching glimpses of…something in the lightning flash. It looked like a moving cloud, but she shrugged it off, thinking it was just a cloud, or mist, or a pocket of cold air. But she heard buzzing in her ears, voices echoing around her.
She continued forth, a maintenance shed up ahead.
Once inside from the rain, she flashed her flashlight around, a door up ahead. She ran her hair out as dry as she could, but she realized the shed only connected to the outside again. She sighed, opening the door as she shone her flashlight down the corridor of it.
The whispering got louder, the buzzing got louder, and all at one there was a ghostly wail, a figure emerging from the darkness. Violet stood frozen to the spot, looking as the figure approached her.
She shone her flashlight on it, looking up at it as it seemed to look at her, faceless and expressionless. One of its hands curled, a finger lightly touching her face. She was shaking, making eye contact the entire time before the figure disappeared out of thin air.
She gasped, not realizing she was holding in her breath the entire time.
The whispering went away, the buzzing ceased. She breathed, in and out, as she recuperated.
“I’m hallucinating. I’m just hallucinating. This isn’t real, it’s not real, it’s not real,” she repeated to herself, running her fingers through her hair.
Regardless, she continued forward.
Out again, in the rain, she flashed her light around, putting it down when she spotted a light waving around in the darkness. She had to pass through on ledges and on top of patio walkways, on top of crates and over fences. Obstacles that caused her delay to her destination. Once she finally saw the overhead light to a staircase leading down, she had hope. But when she got closer, that hope went away.
The big guy was there waiting on the other side.
“Shit,” she muttered as she backpedaled from where she came.
She ran from him, her flashlight waving behind her, looking back to see him still chasing her. She had to make a loop around him, around a patio located in the courtyard, and then back towards the staircase, where it led to an opening in the cement. Out on the other side, there was another building, and an open window.
It was drier, but the rain continued on outside, thunder ringing out with the flash of lightning. And up ahead, on a second floor, was Father Martin, shining his light down like a beacon from heaven.
“You’ve seen the Walrider, haven’t you?” He yelled.
Violet shook her head.
“I don’t understand,” she yelled back.
“You’re beginning to understand, but not yet. Even Abraham had to cast his eyes to the ground.”
Violet lifted her arms up, gesturing to nothing.
“But what am I supposed to be doing? I just came here to help someone, not become some sort of messiah.”
“Soon, soon, child. Revelation is at hand,” he said, and his light disappeared.
“Revelation?” She thought, and grimaced.
Nevertheless, she continued on her journey.
Buzzing and whirring of a machine could be heard down one hall, passing through a crevice between shelves where she caught a glimpse of the big guy again, stalking the halls.
“Oh no.”
The buzzing got louder, and in one room there was…some sort of machine, like a washing machine, but smaller. She thought she saw a cloud inside of it, like from outside. Only smaller. The buzzing got louder, and when she closed her eyes, all she could see was static, but something else. Something dark and tingling behind her eyelids, like something was watching her.
“I’m slowly losing my mind in this place,” she thought to herself.
~
Miles was biding his time, breathing with a wheeze each time.
He watched from the cameras as the girl maneuvered her way around the expanse of the asylum. A sense of deja vu washed over him, remembering the events that had happened earlier that night. He chuckled to himself, the resemblance being uncanny.
He heard the scuffle of footsteps, and shouting could be heard.
The cloud-like form of the Walrider appeared, dragging in Trager, and another individual.
Eddie Gluskin.
They both were thrown into the room, the Walrider ever looming over them.
Miles turned around in his swivel seat, facing them both. Trager was the first to get up, looking around until he spotted Miles.
“You!” He shouted, and rushed towards him.
The Walrider stopped him, a haunting groan escaping as it stood between him and Trager.
“Nuh-uh, careful now, Trager. Wouldn’t want to lose a few fingers , now would we?” Miles taunted.
Trager took a step back, his mask now torn away, his face bloody.
“Got into a fight?” Miles asked, smiling cheekily.
“Shut up,” Trager replied.
“Why are we down here? Why have you taken us here?” Gluskin replied, steadying himself on his feet.
Miles tossed his head, looking at the bewildered man.
“Just…wanted to know how you feel. Just a temporary stay,” he replied.
He then turned his attention to the Walrider.
“Take them to the bay rooms, and keep the doors locked,” he commanded.
The Walrider did just that, a cloud dragging both Trager and Gluskin out of the room once more.
“This isn’t over! Trust me on this!” Trager yelled as he was dragged away.
“It’s already over,” Miles muttered, turning back to face the cameras.